Automatic test equipment (ATE) is widely used for testing semiconductor components in integrated circuits. It is used to quickly test any device under test (DUT). Typically, the DUT is coupled to an electronic (e.g., printed) circuit board, which provides terminals to be connected to signal generators and measurement equipment of an ATE. However, increasingly complexity and high performance of integrated circuits under test requires more and more sophisticated test signals (e.g., high frequency) and corresponding appropriate circuit boards. For example, high speed semiconductors require a matched impedance environment to enable high quality full speed dynamic testing with an automatic test equipment (ATE).
In order to check the circuit boards, it is necessary to connect the circuit paths of such a circuit board to an additional test equipment (signal sources and measurement equipment) in order to inspect the properties and calibrate the test structures. This, however, requires a large number of additional test steps, since the additional interconnections must be removed before the actual test can be performed. If they were not removed from the circuit board, the interconnections could severely affect the electrical properties of the test environment during the actual DUT testing.
In order to save additional expenses, the test board may often be calibrated only once when it is manufactured. Thus, any errors or degradations introduced by the ATE during or between the tests can remain undetected. If so, they are attributed to the DUTs where they erroneously affect the yield of the DUTs.
Further, it would be desirable to be able to feed or supply additional signals into the test equipment during DUT testing.